Phil Foden still isn’t Man City’s biggest star - that makes his achievements even more impressive

The verdict has been unequivocal: Phil Foden is now among the Premier League’s elite.

Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Gary Neville, Roy Keane and even Liam Gallagher were in agreement about the Mancuian magician who took centre stage in Sunday’s derby.

“Right now, he is the best [in the league],” opined Pep Guardiola after the game. “To be world class you have to win games. He’s winning games. Always he scored goals but now he’s winning games. When you do this you reach another level as a player.

“He will already be a legendary player because at his age, the games played, the minutes, the goals scored, the titles won and he is from here and that is why the connection with the fans is unbelievable.”

For a player who has won five Premier League titles, the FA Cup twice, is a reigning European champion and has even won silverware with England, this might have been the greatest day of what is still a burgeoning career. It wasn’t even his most potent derby performance - last year he netted a hat-trick against Manchester United.

On that occasion he was outshone by Erling Haaland, who also netted three against Erik ten Hag’s side. On Sunday, the same scorers were on target for Manchester City, but there was only one man who stole all the post-match accolades.

In a team with Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri and Bernardo Silva, it’s remarkable how often Foden has been the go-to-guy in recent months. He grabbed the game-changing strike against Everton, set up both goals in the 2-0 win over Sheffield United, netted a hat-trick to beat Brentford and scored the game-deciding strike against Bournemouth, before Sunday’s virtuoso showing in the derby.

That contribution only accounts for the last 10 Premier League games in a season that has already yielded 18 goals and 10 assists in all competitions. For so long, just one of the periphery characters, Foden has now cast himself in the starring role.

“It’s important for me to be an attacker and get the goals and assists. The team needs to rely on players like me to find a solution - I want to be that player,” he said after last month’s hat-trick at Brentford. “It’s a little bit on me - running in behind and trying to score. I want to be threatening in behind and try to get goals and assists.”

In many ways, it feels like Foden’s career has been leading to this point from the moment that he guided England to an under-age World Cup triumph as a 17-year-old. Precocious talents with less hype than City’s no.47 have struggled to deal with the weight of expectation - Ravel Morrison, Jack Wilshire and Theo Walcott are just a few examples - but Foden has never become overawed by the pressure on such young shoulders.

Guardiola deserves huge credit for this, and has undeniably justified what was once a controversial decision not to send Foden on loan during his fledgling years that were spent mainly watching and learning, rather than actually playing. And what has he learnt? The explosiveness of Leroy Sane, the creativity of De Bruyne, the vision of David Silva and the scoring capacity of Raheem Sterling. Foden encapsulates it all and has developed a style imbued with the qualities of his great team-mates, and yet showcases those skills in a totally unique manner

That the four examples include two midfielders and two wingers is also telling. Foden has blended characteristics associated with both positions into a devastating concoction. 

Yet that flexibility and versatility hasn’t always worked in his favour. “I know that Phil can play in all positions up front, in the middle, outside right or left, and in the pocket,” Guardiola said in September.

“Phil knows how to play football. If he knows how to play football, he will play left-back and play good,” he also claimed separately in 2021. “There are players that I have to play in this position, otherwise he doesn’t play football. But Phil is an exceptional player. He can play in every one, not yet, but he is so young and in time he will get it.”

The boyhood blue has made no secret that he prefers operating centrally, a position he occupied for spells during De Bruyne’s five-month injury lay-off. But since the Belgian’s return to the side, Foden has predominantly played in the wide areas.

The goal and assist against Copenhagen last month came from a position on the wing, as did the hat-trick at the Gtech, while the derby brace was notable as both goals were scored from opposite wings.

Guardiola’s team selection does highlight that Foden, for all his heroic contributions this season, is still seen as De Bruyne’s deputy. Last week’s 6-2 FA Cup win at Luton Town demonstrated that, with the post-match debrief centred around how Haaland and De Bruyne are still the protagonists in City’s star-studded line-up.

Guardiola recently revealed the latter can only play in an attacking midfield role - Foden’s preferred position - while the entire team is built around maximising Haaland’s scoring opportunities. The reality for Sunday’s star performer is that he is still a moveable part in a City set-up that features several rigid structures.

That’s not to diminish Foden’s impact and there’s no shame in playing second fiddle to arguably the Premier League’s greatest-ever creator and finisher. If anything, that Foden continues to shine alongside such outstanding talents, while not playing in his preferred role, only highlights how incredible his achievements have been this term.

Whether De Bruyne and Haaland will still be pulling the strings in two years’ time is less certain - but City need not worry about who could step up to fill that void, they’ve got one of the world's most talented players busting a gut to prove he’s the main man.

At 23, it feels like Foden has achieved it all, but this season has shown there still so much more to come from a player who already feels like one of the division’s standout players.